During my summer trip to Moscow, I managed to visit the A. V. Shchusev Museum of Architecture. I had long planned to explore this exhibition space. Today I'll share with you a story about my walk through the museum.
How to Get There by Metro
The museum is located in the very center of the city, not far from the Moscow Kremlin. The address of the exhibition space is 5/25 Vozdvizhenka Street. The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday, with varying hours depending on the day of the week.
The cost of an admission ticket without discounts is 450 Russian rubles, approximately 5 dollars (as of January 2023).
Bit of History
The modern State Museum of Architecture named after A. V. Shchusev was formed from two independent exhibition spaces: the Museum of the Academy of Architecture of the USSR in the Donskoy Monastery and the Republican Museum of Russian Architecture. Both exhibitions were opened in the first half of the 20th century. The consolidation into one museum complex occurred on January 1, 1964.
For many years, museum exhibits were located both in the building on Vozdvizhenka and in the Donskoy Monastery. In the 90s, the monastery premises were returned to the believers, and today, exhibition spaces are only located in the center of the capital. However, since 2014, the museum has had a new branch located in Melnikov's house on Krivoarbatsky Lane, 10.
Architect Alexey Shchusev, whose name the exhibition bears, was the founder and first director of the museum on Vozdvizhenka. Primarily known for his projects of the Kazan Railway Station and Lenin's Mausoleum, he also participated in the construction of the magnificent "Komsomolskaya" metro station in Moscow.
The complex of the Shchusev Museum of Architecture includes three buildings: the main house of the Talyzin-Ustinov estate, the "Ruin" wing, and the building of the Apothecary Order - refectory chambers of the 17th century. The last exhibition space was closed on the day of my museum walk.
The Museum of Architecture on Vozdvizhenka is not just exhibition halls. Repair workshops operate here, excursions, scientific conferences, and lectures are held. The number of exhibits in the exhibition funds is impressive: there are more than 800 thousand of them here.
The most extensive exhibit of this exhibition space is the model of the Grand Kremlin Palace by architect Vasily Bazhenov. The model of the never-built grand residence occupies a whole hall of the museum. The exhibit was created in the second half of the 18th century. As of today, viewing the palace model is not possible as it is under restoration.
Have a nice trip!
